


always account for variable change

by ohmcgee



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Tim is a card counter, loosely based on the movie 21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 17:53:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4358642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/pseuds/ohmcgee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His name is Tim and he got a 1490 on his SATs and graduated MIT when he was twenty and he could have a fucking seat at the top of fucking Google if he wanted, but he doesn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	always account for variable change

**Author's Note:**

> promtp: DCU, Tim Drake/Jason Todd, the One in Vegas (aka Tim counting cards and winning money like a mofo)

“I’m supposed to break your kneecaps,” Jason says, cornering the kid in the back alley behind the casino. “They want me to do more than that.”  
  
The kid just stops in his tracks, shoves his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and smiles at him. It’s seventy-five percent false bravado, twenty percent cocksure little fuck, and five percent of something Jason hasn’t figured out yet, but he thinks he wants to. “I’m sensing a but.”  
  
“But,” Jason says, smirking as he backs the kid up against the wall, planting one hand next to his head, pressing so close the gun concealed behind his jacket digs into the kid’s shoulder. “I’ve got a better idea.”  
  
  
: : :  
  
  
His name is Tim and he made a 1490 on his SATs and graduated MIT when he was twenty and he could have a fucking seat at the top of fucking Google if he wanted it, but he doesn’t.   
  
This is what he wants to do. He wants to sip on a rum and coke and run numbers in his head in a smoke filled room, bat his pretty eyes at the dealer, lick his lips at the old guy across the table, and wipe the fucking place clean, go back to their hotel and let Jason fuck him on top of piles and piles of money.  
  
They almost get caught a half a dozen times, get followed once by one of the casino’s thugs and Jason ends up breaking his hand on the guy’s face trying to knock him out so they can get away. He fucks Tim right there in that alley with blood on his knuckles and his pants around his ankles, a bag of cash and an unconscious body at their feet.   
  
  
: : :  
  
  
They hit all the ones in Vegas that won’t recognize Jason’s face, then they move on to Colorado, to Atlantic City, spend a week sweating their balls off in Biloxi.   
  
Tim makes them thousands and thousands of dollars and Jason still gets hard every time he sees him at the table, cards in his hands, brilliant fucking brain working faster than a goddamn computer in that pretty head of his.  
  
They don’t talk about how much is going to be enough, when they’re going to stop. They don’t talk about much at all, actually. They just fuck and steal and Jason doesn’t see how it ever needs to be anymore than that.  
  
  
: : :  
  
  
They get separated in New Orleans at a fucking Harrah’s and Jason barely gets to him in time. Tim's tied to a chair in the basement, two thugs towering over him, armed with fucking hammers. There’s blood on his face and his right eye is swollen and Jason pulls the trigger, pulls the trigger, pulls the trigger until there’s only bodies.   
  
“Hey,” he says, cupping Tim’s face, wiping the blood out of his eyes. His hands are shaking. The goons on the floor are dead or at least half way there and Jason still thinks they deserve more. Tim’s bottom lip is split open and his nose is bloody and with the way he’s breathing he might have a broken rib. He swallows the lump in his throat, takes out his knife and cuts Tim loose, kneels back in front of him, wraps his arms around Tim’s middle and leans his forehead against his shoulder. “What happened?”  
  
Tim lets out a ragged, shaky breath that almost sounds like a laugh. “There was a variable I didn’t account for.”  
  
Jason pulls back, threads his fingers through Tim’s hair and drags him in for a kiss. Normally he doesn’t understand Tim’s brainy talk, but that?  
  
That he thinks he gets.


End file.
